Shop

Karima (36) returned in 2010 from Spain to Morocco. When her husband passed away, she decided to migrate to Spain to find a job and to provide her two children with an income. She worked temporarily in the strawberry crop in Spain. Yet, she didn’t manage to save money as she could only work short periods of time. She decided to return because she wanted to be with her children. Upon arrival, she found it very hard to find a stable job. Luckily, the community was ready to support her. After some months, she could start to work in a grocery, but her salary was insufficient to cover the costs of the basic needs of the family. Therefore, CARDEV helped her to make an agreement with the shop owner. She could become the administrator of the shop, in exchange for paying the rent. She used the financial support from ERSO to pay the rent of the first month and shop equiment. In this way, she could save the profits gained during the first months and make the business more sustainable. She’s now thinking of expanding the business and starting an ice cream counter. At present, she’s glad to be back and to be able to provide her family with a stable income.

Painting

Abdul came to Europe in 2009 and returned to Morocco in 2011. Before migrating he used to work as a painter in Fkih Ben Saleh. He wanted to find a better job and went to Italy, where his family was living as well. Yet, he ended up quite disappointed when he was faced with the difficulties to find a job, despite his efforts. Therefore, he decided to return to Morocco. It wasn’t easy to return as expectations from society are quite high. Moreover, it was also difficult to find a job in Morocco.

He visited CARDEV to explore different employment possibilities. After having taken into consideration his skills and capacities, he decided to work as a painter again, as he had done before going to Europe. ERSO’s reintegration assistance consisted in buying all the material needed for starting his business as a painter and offering a 1 month business training (commerce and small-scale business management). The course and financial support allow him to work independetly. He has many clients and works a lot (even a lot more than before his migration). He's able to save money and hopefully he'll expand the business in the future.

He now dreams of having a family and constructing a house. He regrets having migrated and he would never advise anyone to leave Morocco without having security of employment in the host country.

Driver

Fatima is a 29 year old woman who returned to Morocco (Béni Mellal) in 2010. She migrated with her family to France to have better living conditions when she was 15 years old. She went to school and later she tried to find a job. She got married and has two children, but got divorced. Returning to Morocco was difficult for her as a single mother of two children without income or job perspectives.

She was assisted by CARDEV through the ERSO project. CARDEV advised her to do a training to obtain a driver’s license for heavy vehicles. Currently she is looking for a job as a driver for this type of vehicles. She says it is difficult but she thinks she’ll find it. The training was successful, as she even received a regional price from the Government - in the International Woman’s Day commemoration - to honour her for being the first Moroccan woman who obtained the heavy vehicles driving license.

Contemplating her migration experience, she doesn’t really regret the whole migration process, but she would not recommend migration to other people. Even if the first months after return were hard, she prefers to be in Morocco now rather than living in Europe.